The GIRLS in England

We are still recovering from our visitors last week. On Sunday 4, 15 year old girls arrived.  My plan was to keep them up until bed time then hopefully they would sleep all night and get on our schedule.  A couple of them had been on a Kimbrough vacation and requested a game of Charades with Mr. Hal.  It is kind of a tradition.  We played until our stomachs hurt.  They took a walk around the village while I made dinner.  I noticed it got very quiet as I was cleaning up and I looked in our den and they were all face down. 

We set out for London the next day. ME and 5, 15 year old girls.

Each day I would ask them what they wanted to do and we would do it.  There was a

Tube strike on the day we arrived.  The streets were a bit congested

but it did not hamper our fun!   The first day we took a tour of

London on an open air bus.  It was a little slower because of the

strike but the girls loved the tour guide (cute young British guy).

We shopped along the way.

Tuesday we went to Oxford.  I felt smarter just being there.  We had lunch with Mary Catherine Caldwell and her new baby.  We met her husband, Syman, who is getting his PhD there. He let us into his school.  This was great because his school is not normally opened to the public.  MC took us to a great store called Primark that had cute clothes at a great price.  We were sad to say good bye to this precious couple.  They are such a wonderful example of a young Christian couple. 

The girls wanted to shop and tour Christ's Church where Harry Potter was filmed.  We bought tickets for a open aired bus Oxford tour and headed to Christ's Church.  They were a little disappointed that they did not get to see

the dining hall at the church due to it closing earlier than the sign

said.  However, we did leave crushed by disappointment because we went

to the Evening song service at 6p.m. in the cathedral.  It was wonderful and it may be my favorite thing I have done since I arrived in England.  We were warmly received by the clergy.  It was an evening candlelight service with the choir and a boy’s choir.  The quality of their voices was like a Christmas concert that you might pay to see in a large city.

It was so peaceful.  It was the perfect ending for our day in Oxford.

We went back to London for a late dinner at Cafe Diana.

Our final day in London I asked them what they wanted to so on our last day and unanimously they said SHOP.  We went to the best streets for shopping,

Portabella Road and Oxford St.  We went in to store after store then

we had a bit of time left so we went to Buckingham palace.  When we

took the tour on Monday the palace was our last stop and it was dark.

We could not see it as well.  So we went back.  We saw the guard and we also saw a  Policeman with an automatic machine gun. 

The hotel held our bags so we went back to the hotel, grabbed our

bags, jumped on another bus and went to the station.  We arrived just in

time for our train.  We played cards on the train and were having such

a good time that we almost missed our Leeds debarking!  They grabbed a

burger at Burger King at the Leeds station and we made the 10 p.m.

train which is good because the next train was 11.

I love these girls and AK and I have loved every second that we have been together.  I treat them as my own and watch out for them as my own.  There was  the alert of terrorism in Europe largest cities and they are talking a lot about it here in England.  With this in mind, I decided that we would not

ride the underground trains/tube in London.  I never talked to the

girls about the threat and they do not watch the news so they had no

knowledge of it.  I started second guessing this decision so I asked

them if they wanted to take the tube anywhere and none of them wanted

to do so.  They liked the bus because they could see London and people

watch.  We ALWAYS rode on the top.  I did locate the embassy just in case.  There was some talk that the tube  strike was fabricated due to the terrorism threat.

We had planned to make Mrs. Dotts proud and go to Stratford upon Avon. Instead they stayed upstairs primping, getting all pretty for a shopping trip into our adjacent spa village, Ilkley.  Ilkley has tons of unique shops.  It is

like Mountainbrook.  I love it.  Their final night, our English

friend, Laura Scarlett showed them what a Friday night looks like for a 15 year old girl in England...   She is the same age as our girls.    They planned to grab a train and go to Bradford or Leeds to the cinema (movie theatre) and dinner. Bradford is smaller than Huntsville and has the closest Cinema.  Leeds is the size of Birmingham.  If they go to Leeds I asked them not go very far from the station.

They took the bus a lot.  It runs every hour and

stops right in front of our house.  I just make sure they have

their bus fare.  They have been able to qualify for the child price in

many things that we do (train fare, bus fare, tours etc) At 16 you

have to pay the adult price.

We had a glorious time!  The girls were great travelers.  They were aware of their surroundings, helped navigate our destinations in London.  They did remarkably well with the currency.  I am anxious for them to have a week away and talk with them about their perceptions.  They never missed a bus time, a train time and when they had to be ready at 7 a.m.  to take a taxi and 3 trains to their plane they were prompt and never complained.  At the airport Anna Katherine and I were only allowed to go to the bottom of the escalator.  We both teared up and cried ½ the way home.  The conductor kept coming by to check on us.

 

Our house and village is very quiet without them...

Paris

Before we left Huntsville, our dear friend and outstanding Chemistry teacher, Leigh Brown, told us that she was going to Paris in September.  She invited us to meet her.  It is only a 1 hour plane ride from our airport, Leeds.  I did not have an opportunity to read much about Paris.  We were so busy looking for a place to live.  What I did know is that I needed to keep close to my 15 year old daughter, who looks 18+. 

We were so excited to arrive in Paris..  We dropped our bags off at our hotel and jumped on a bus to find Leigh.  We arrived at the Arc de Troiumphe.  It is breathtaking.  As we left the bus Anna Katherine walked a few feet from me to take pictures and I called Leigh.  Almost immediately Anna Katherine was approached by a man wearing a beret.  I concluded my call to Leigh saying, "Gotta go Anna Katherine is talking to a stranger."  As I quickly swooped in, the man kissed her on the cheek!!!!  We had been in Paris less than an hour and Anna Katherine was getting a kiss from a Frenchman!  The man did not back up when I charged in...  Instead he asked me for money.  I was low on Euros because I had just paid transportation costs and if I gave him money there would no dinner for AK and me.  He offered us a gold ring and to which we said our no thank yous and walked off.

Paris was an adventure.  We knew that our visit would not be long enough to fully see Paris.  We only had 3 days.  Our first day we saw the Arc de Troiumphe, ate a great salad at an outdoor cafe, shopped and walked down the famous street Champs-Elysees then caught our bus back to our hotel.  We saw and went in fantastic stores.  It was a shopper's paradise.  On our bus rides we did see a lot of the city.

Even though our visit was short we decided to go to Versailles.  I had my doubts because it meant that we would devote almost an entire day to one site but it turned out to be Anna Katherine's favorite part of our Paris trip.  There are no words to describe Versailles other than the strongest:   remarkable, amazing, fantastic, ornate.  The vast properties include the palace, the church, Marie's home that Louis created for her, the Grand Canal, Marie’s miniature village and the unbelievable gardens!  I read where you should plan to visit Versailles 3 times.  1 for the grounds, 1 for the palace and 1 for the rest.  Anna Katherine had just studied the French revolution. We had seen the movie.  Many of the paintings and sites described in both we saw firsthand.  The front gate was majestic.  As I was looking at it, the sun came out from behind a cloud.  The way the gold on the gate glistened was unbelievable.  As we toured there were signs cautioning about pick pocketers.  One of our party found their camera missing and we wondered if they were not a victim of pick pocketers.

We went back to Paris satisfied that we had seen a one of a kind piece of history.  Leigh and I agreed we had the best cup of coffee in our lives  at a place called the  public store.  It was a high end restaurant.  It was evening and we strolled past the Eiffel tower that was lit up-so beautiful.  We were distracted and lost track of time.

We went to the rail station to catch our train back to the hotel.  Travelling is like a puzzle.  When all the pieces fit together then everything is fine.  To successfully get back to our hotel we had to get to the Antony station, connect to the Orly station then catch the shuttle back to our hotel.   The problem was that the Orly station was closed.  At first we could not find anyone.  We were almost entirely alone at a deserted train station in the middle of the night in Paris.  I called the hotel

I selected a Hilton in the hopes that I would have English speaking people at the desk.  Not the case.  The man on the phone that I called at the Hilton did not have great English.  I begged him to call us a taxi to pick us up at the train station.  He said he could not help us.  He gave us a name of a taxi service.  Of course when I called the service no one answered.  We finally found a lone taxi and we were on our way to our hotel.

Anna Katherine was a little shaken by the experience.  The next day we arose, packed up, checked out and headed out to meet Leigh and Doug at the Louvres.  We were almost to the correct stop after a change in trains we would be there.  As we looked around for the line we wanted we were totally lost.  We must have looked lost because a kind Frenchman came up and said, "May I assist you?"  After the events of the night before, we were so glad to see him.  He said that his English was not very good but it sounded great to us!  He took us to the platform and agreed that it was confusing.  We thanked him and turned to get our train.   After reading the options of where the train was "calling at" we were still perplexed.  Thank goodness the Frenchman was back.  He said, "Follow me."  He got on the train with us. He explained that he was a judge for international figure skating and he had been to the USA but only to Seattle.  He showed us his badge.  When we reached our stop he told us to get off and go up some stairs.  He pointed directly at the stairs so we would not get lost.  He cautioned us about pick pocketers.  We thanked him profusely and raced to the Louvres.


We did not have much time and I did have a bucket list of what I wanted to see at the museum.  You can check your luggage at the Louvres.  That was great for us since we were going straight from the Louvres to our flight back to England.  We saw amazing paintings and sculptures by famous artists.  We saw Victory statue that I am told is the inspiration for Nike.   She was exquisite.  She has no head and I so wanted to know what her head looked like. 

We toured the museum and then there she was, the Mona Lisa.  She is beautiful but smaller than I imagined.  As I looked at her and crowd that surrounded her, I wondered why she has such a following.   We saw so many great works.  We were running out of time but we did get to see Venus before we left.

We grabbed our luggage and after we glanced at the train station, decided to take a taxi for fear we would miss our flight.  By the way, Taxis in Paris are ridiculous.   Sure enough as we ran into the airport our plane was boarding.  I was just about out of Euros due to the 2 taxis we had to ride.  We had enough for a couple of snacks on the plane. Jet 2 has great prices but you have to buy your snacks.  We were so busy in France that we may have only gotten 1 real meal per day.  It was worth it to see as much as we could see.  We had a marvelous time but not knowing the language was wearing on us, the plane ride is only 1 hour so we could not wait until we were back in England.  It was so nice to be back around folks who spoke english!  However, within a few days I was making my bucket list on what I wanted to see if I ever returned to Paris.

Cricket

Cricket

We attended our first international sports event.  This was a big deal for us.  I have not been to even a Titans game.  The SEC regular season games are about as high as I have ever gone in the sporting events hierarchy. 

Hal’s colleague, Neil Scarlett, invited us to the Cricket match between Pakistan and England.  Neil is devoted to the sports teams in this area.  He loves his family and his dog but he also loves Cricket and the Leeds Rhinos, a rugby team.

As the week progressed and we were looking forward to the Cricket match, there was great controversy here in England.  The news proclaimed that it was likely the Pakistan team were cheaters.  Every Englishman I spoke to said it was certain, except for Neil.  He has sympathy for the Pakistan players.  They cannot even compete in their own country due to the unrest.  They will play their regular season next year in Leeds. 

I knew NOTHING about Cricket, still don’t, but I tried.  I just kept comparing it to baseball.  I expected that the players would wear white.  Evidently, that has changed to make the game more entertaining.  Also, American baseball has influenced the game in that the players slide when making plays even are now “laying out” to catch a ball.  Neil said that was something new and until recently that would have not been proper Cricket. 

Walk out songs are also played.  One player even had Thomas’s walkout song.  When they run, they carry their bats.

Pakistan was up first.  What that means it that they bat until somewhere around 50 overs are achieved.  The English team plays defense until these overs are achieved.  I still don’t understand the game but I think Scoring takes place when the ball bounces over the barrier (like a ground rule double) or soars over without a bounce (like a homerun).  The team gets 4 for the ground rule double and 6 for the homerun.  When either of these things happen there is great celebration, music is played, horns sound and everyone holds up an 8 x 11 card with a 4 on one side or a 6 on the other side.  Well I was for England so I was reluctant to hold anything up for Pakistan!  The English are so polite.  They clap, cheer for the Pakistan team.  I had a hard time with this.  At one point when Pakistan scored Neil said, “Karen, hold up your number.”  I said, “But I am for England.”  He answered, “We are for everyone.”  Hal could not do that.  I told him that Neil said we were supposed to be for everyone.  You should have seen the look of disbelief on Hal’s face.  Stunned he said, “I’m not!”  After all we are from the SEC, for crying out loud!

After the required overs are reached the game breaks for lunch.  We had a lovely 4 course lunch and then we were back at it and it was England’s turn to bat.  The outfielders on both teams sign autographs in the field, during a play.  It is such a friendly game.  I can’t imagine one of Coach Mincher’s players signing autographs in the outfield.

Of course, tea is served around 2. 

It was a beautiful day for a cricket game and we had a great time.  Oh by the way, it was an upset.  Pakistan won.  The English people in my area, clapped and said, “Well done.”  Hal did not clap.  There were some Pakistan fans that sat in the box with us and one Pakistan fan, a gentleman, invited us to dine with him that night and go to his casino.  We declined his invitation,  but some of the group did go and said he was a wonderful host. Before we left the game he whispered in Hal’s ear, “We are not all terrorists.”

Charity Stores and Skype

Thrift stores in England are a must see.  They are not tucked away on a low rent district.  In Ilkley there are at least 6 charity stores and they are right next do to a high end retail store like Clark stores or J Crew.    Anna Katherine and I discovered these as way to decorate our home.  Our home is brand new.  We are looking for items to hang on the walls.  We rented furniture from a company named David Phillips.  Included in our rentals are silverware, dishes and pot and pans.  The charity stores are fantastic.  They cannot accept or sell lamps. 

Even though I am not working I stay very busy so far.  I gave up my great sales job for this adventure.   However, I held on to some volunteer jobs including PTSA President of the best high school in the world, Huntsville High School.  GO BIG RED!  HHS has an amazing PTSA board and I knew that would do outstanding job supporting HHS with or without me in the USA.  We will be skyping our meetings.

Skype is an amazing technology.   When I was a child in Huntsville and attended one of many field trips to the Space and Rocket Center I remember the exhibit of the 2 TV sets where you and a buddy would try to communicate with each other.  There was a lot of static and the picture was anything but clear.  The tour guide said, "Just think, one day you will be able to communicate from house to house with this technology."  That day has arrived..   Before we left, Anna Katherine downloaded Skype on my dad's computer.  My mother was very sad that now we have decided to move to England.  In my lifetime I have rarely lived outside my 35801 zip code.  When Anna Katherine demonstrated Skype by skyping with Hal, my mother felt a lot better.  They can see and talk to us.  We Skype our sons.  Ben is at UNA and Thomas is at Auburn.  I love seeing them even though I am thousands of miles away.

This may be old news-all this Skype talk but it has made this journey so much easier.  Anna Katherine missed homecoming at HHS.  She Skype with her friends while they got ready then when they had their picture made they picked up the laptop and Anna Katherine appeared in several of the pictures and got to see all the girls, dates and parents.

Early impressions of England

For people who have rarely lived outside of their 35801 zip code, England was the best country for us  to live.  The people here are so charming.  We have lived in 3 locations so far.  Finally we have settled into our home in Burley in Wharfedale.  In each location the landlords have been so kind and helpful  I Shipley we lived in a restored old mill converted into apartments.  We had lovely views but Anna Katherine and I felt claustrophobic.  Bob and his wife at Victoria Mills were so kind, I worried if I would find kinder landlords.  Then we moved to Ilkley.

Ilkley is my favorite city of all the cities we have visited and I truly wanted to live there.  Gary was the owner landlord at the Moorview Holiday Apartments. He and his dad and other family member, Emma, run the place and I would have lived there for all our time here except for the fact that there was only 1 bathroom and no dryer.  The Holden family was always there to help.   I had to hang our clothes once they were washed.  The weather is England calls for rain every day.  When I had my clothes on the line and was gone on an errand, Gary and family would pull them off the line before the rain.

 Ilkley is reminds me of Maine.  It is called a spa town.  Wonderful shopping opportunities are in this village.  It is surprising.   It has an expensive but fantastic grocery store, Boots.  We realized after a couple of trips that it was like shopping at Fresh Market in Huntsville.   Anna Katherine and I have found so many shops that we cannot wait to visit.  One of the stars of Ilkley is Betty's Tea Room, a Yorkshire tradition.

In our first few days there are so many surprises.  Learning to drive on a different side of the road must be hard.  Hal has done a great job missing sheep on narrow roads etc. It  has been hard for me to ride on different side as well.  The traffic signs are interesting.  The yellow caution signal appears at both prior to the green light and red light.  Cars begin rolling as soon as the yellow signal appears before the green.    Anna Katherine and I are on foot and depend on bus and train for our transportation so this has been something we have had to remember.  Also,  in American we looked Right, Left, then Right again.  Over here you reverse that otherwise you may get hit by a car.  Signs are different as well.  Exit in train stations are "Way Out."  Yield signs are "Give Way." 

We have travelled through many cities in our journey to find a place to live.  Burley - in -Wharfedale is a quaint lovely village and close to my beloved Ilkley.  By close, I mean the Ilkley bus runs right in front of my house.  I can also get to Otley,  Menston, Guisely, Bradford and Leeds via train and bus.  Otley is the home of Chippendale.  Yes, the same as the furniture.  They is a statue of him in the town of Otley.  Otley has a great Market on Friday and Saturday.  I have visited a man who has frames.   Speaking of which, I will close now as the bus to Otley should be arriving out side my door any minute. 

Cheers!

Karen